US soldiers who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine will be immediately discharged, the US Army said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The Army's order applies to regular Army soldiers, active-duty Army reservists and cadets unless they have approved or pending exemptions, it said in a statement.
The discharge order is the latest from a US military branch removing unvaccinated service members amid the pandemic, after the Pentagon made the vaccine mandatory for all service members in August 2021.
In December, the US Air Force announced that 27 service members had been discharged for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. They were believed to be the first active-duty troops to have been removed for declining the vaccine.
The vast majority of all active duty troops have received at least one dose, according to Reuters. Roughly 79 uniformed military personnel across the different services have died from the novel coronavirus.